The snowflakes that gently fell onto the palm melted away.
“This winter is particularly strange.”
It was February, as spring approached.
Yet, the air that brushed against the skin remained chilly.
Could it be due to the unresolved war?
Perhaps the frozen hearts of the people were affecting the weather.
Fiona suddenly looked to the side, lost in such emotional thoughts.
“…Your Highness? Are you feeling unwell?”
Elius’s face had turned pale.
He had been in this state since yesterday.
Whatever the mysterious old man said, Fiona was deeply worried about Elius.
“If I say I’m fine, that would be a lie.”
“Isn’t that right?”
“Because of you.”
“…?”
Elius’s eyes narrowed.
Fiona was bewildered, her face filled with question marks.
“Are you really asking because you don’t know?”
Elius let out another sigh, one of many.
“…Do you know what kind of evaluations you’re receiving within the palace right now?”
“Me?”
“…”
It had already been half a year since Fiona became Elius’s personal attendant.
It was enough time to prove something, but also enough time to demonstrate incompetence.
“Do you know how many attendants are vying for your position right now? You’ve broken things dozens of times due to careless mistakes, and there are whispers among the palace attendants. They’re saying you’re not suited to be my personal attendant. The lower your evaluation as my personal attendant goes, the more my reputation as the one who hired you suffers.”
Fiona blinked in confusion.
Did she not understand what he meant?
No, that wasn’t it. Fiona wasn’t a fool; she could understand words.
She was just puzzled.
“Well, then you can just dismiss me, can’t you?”
Her incompetence was having a negative impact on the prince’s reputation.
Then, isn’t the answer simple?
If she, the source of all evil, was fired, the prince’s reputation would naturally recover.
It could end as just a trivial incident.
Fiona thought that the second prince would surely understand such a fact, and she put on a genuinely curious expression.
“What are you saying…!”
Was it because he never thought he would lose a verbal battle to Fiona?
Elius couldn’t continue speaking, veins bulging on his forehead.
“…”
But upon further reflection, yes. Fiona’s point was indeed valid.
If her incompetence was affecting him, it would be right to dismiss her without hesitation.
The imperial family was not a machine that operated on emotions.
It was more like a factory that sought thorough practicality and benefits to produce a perfect product.
In such a royal family, Fiona was an unsuitable component. It would be better for her and for him to help her find another job……
“If I fire you, how am I supposed to face the count who recommended you, begging and pleading for your position?”
“Ah! That’s true!”
“If you understand, then work hard to learn from now on. If you keep repeating mistakes, I’ll be worried about you.”
“Yes! I will do my best!”
“Now, get back to your tasks.”
*****
The Second Prince’s Palace.
In the waiting room.
“Ern Astra…? Are you referring to the commander of the Astrape Special Forces?”
“Yes, Your Highness. Although he is still young, no one in the Special Forces can match his skills.”
“Oh? The Supreme Commander is willing to make a suggestion? So, you wish to recommend that soldier to be my Personal Guard?”
“Yes. You won’t regret it.”
“Well… I can’t imagine that the new Special Forces commander will meet your level of ability.”
“I assure you, in just half a year, he will show achievements surpassing mine. If he fails to prove my words, you may take my head.”
Elius let out a curious laugh.
Ern Astra.
He had heard many rumors about him.
At just twenty, he was said to be performing at a commander-level or higher.
While his origins were unknown, his extraordinary talent had to be compared to the heroes of the Empire throughout history.
“Your Highness. And I would like him to carry out the ‘missions’ you have commanded.”
“Do as you please. After all, I entrusted you with full authority over the dark forces as the Supreme Commander.”
“…Understood.”
“The war is now nearing its end.”
It had been a long time since a peace treaty was signed with the shamans.
The barbarians of the western plains had also been subdued.
The Demon King subjugation operation had also gone smoothly.
Now, what remained was the Eastern Principality.
Killing the duke, who may be the instigator of this war, would become the last mission the empire must undertake.
“And Your Highness.”
“What is it this time?”
“There are some suspicious movements happening in the Eastern Principality.”
“Suspicious movements?”
“It seems they are trying to send spies into the empire, but there’s something unsettling about it.”
“I’d like to hear your opinion.”
“A few days ago, in the Much-Sector area…”
To summarize Schneider’s words.
A spy from the Eastern Principality stationed in the empire had shown excessive movements and was discovered.
The reason was suspicious, so an investigation revealed that they were looking for “something”.
Whether that something is an object or a person remains uncertain.
“The Eastern Principality is looking for something in the empire.”
And in the Much-Sector area at that?
It smells fishy.
The Eastern Principality is cornered.
Even with all their forces concentrated in the capital, they are trying to steal something that is in the Empire through spies.
That something cannot be ordinary. It must be an object capable of changing the course of the war.
“I can’t think of what that object might be…”
The current situation of the Eastern Principality can be described as nothing short of disastrous.
No matter how powerful, be it an ancient artifact or a formidable force, it is absolutely impossible to turn the tide of the current war.
“Have you conducted a search of the area?”
“Yes. We searched the Much-Sector area thoroughly, but found nothing.”
“Of course, they would have made it difficult to discover.”
Whether it’s an object hidden by the Eastern Principality or something that originally belonged to the empire.
Is it something within the empire, or merely a spy’s mistake?
There is too little information available to make any confident guesses.
“The Summer Sun… is that too far-fetched of a speculation?”
The Summer Sun possessed by the Eastern Principality.
However, there are no strong individuals in the Eastern Principality capable of handling that immense power.
The essence of a Divine King from the Mythical Era is like that.
Just as the Spring Leaf are held by the Elder, the foremost among the shamans.
Just as the Autumn Wind is held by the strongest barbarian, Sky King Temur.
A human who holds the essence of the Divine Kings must be worthy of it.
But the Summer Sun is a powerful strategic weapon in and of itself.
Without a strong individual capable of wielding that power, it is merely a hindrance, yet one can never know when such a strong individual might emerge.
To place such a Summer Sun in the capital of the empire?
Who in the world would dare to commit such a mad act?
“For now, I understand. Let’s end today’s discussion here.”
“Yes. Please rest well.”
*****
In a dark room filled with accumulated dust.
“Young Master? Where is this place?”
For several years, no one had managed it, and a musty smell of dust lingered in the air.
“Ugh, it’s dusty… We need to clean this up, don’t we? How did I not know such a place existed?”
Elius walked deep into the room and stopped in front of a drape.
“Fiona.”
“Yes?”
“Do you know why the war with the Eastern Principality began?”
“Well, that’s obvious…”
In this empire, there was no one who didn’t know.
The assassination of the Empire’s only Empress, Yuriel Grandeum.
Yuriel was the mother of the First Prince and Second Prince and the Emperor’s one and only wife.
She had stayed in the Eastern Principality for two years, but the reason was known only to the Emperor.
It was said that the Emperor often visited the Eastern Principality because of the Empress.
“Her Majesty was held hostage by the duke of the Eastern Principality and took her own life.”
As Elius lifted the dusty drape, a massive portrait came into view.
The current Emperor, the First Prince, the Second Prince, and the Empress.
It was a family portrait without smiles, showing a harmonious family that had been trapped in a dark, deep room ever since the Empress took her own life.
“My father and brother did not want to keep this portrait close, so I decided to store it in my palace.”
“Is that so…?”
“And I feel the same way. Since my mother’s passing, I have never kept this portrait in front of me.”
“Then why now…?”
“I don’t know.”
Could it be because of the long discussion with Schneider today about the Summer Sun and the Eastern Principality?
Or perhaps he came to see the portrait because he remembered the smile of his mother, who always held him kindly.
‘No.’
If his mother’s voice and smile were the reasons, he would have visited more than once in the past few years.
There was something more, something even more unsettling.
He had a feeling that coming here would allow him to grasp its identity.
As royalty, his instincts as a human warned him of an intangible threat approaching.
“…Mother.”
What on earth should I do?
